The moral dilemma of finding a bargain

[Trenchrun]

Interested to see what peoples thoughts are on buying an item well below market value.

I've regularly seen people post on Facebook about bargains they've picked up from flea markets or garage sales. I'm sure we've all dreamed of going to a garage sale and seeing a DT Luke for $1

But what would you do if you found a bargain like this ? Would you pay and run ? Or let the seller know the real value of thier item ?

I'd like to think I'd be honest... but in that situation I'd probably pay and run lol

 

[Astrozombie]

Sometimes you have to pay for an education.

 

[Dax]

For me it depends on the scenario. I've been selling at collector fairs and had people approach me asking if I'd be interested in buying some items. In that situation I'll give them a fair appraisal, let them know what they have and also what I'd be prepared to pay for it. I'll also give them guidance about selling, for example it costs money to sell at a collector fair, it costs money in fees to sell on ebay, if you want to sell quickly you might need to take a lower price, if you sell online you need to worry about packing very carefully, etc.

If someone lists something on ebay and misidentified the item, not picked up on a nuance that makes if valuable, well that's up to the seller to expend the effort to research and set a fair price. I think there's also a difference between letting an auction run and have the market set the price (there's usually enough competition to see the item achieve a reasonable value for all parties) and someone that's set a ridiculously low buy it now price.

Case in point, in the last few years a naïve seller listed some very rare items on an auction site with a very low BIN price. Numerous collectors swooped in and saved the seller from a terrible mistake and those items sold for much more reasonable prices. Both the seller and collectors did well out of this arrangement and nobody got screwed over.

Ultimately, it's a hobby and how we treat each other does matter.

 

[Kueller]

Question that reminds me of the incredible number of times I have seen peoples who had sh*t and thought they had a priceless treasure, and peoples who really had a treasure and who thought that it was worth nothing. I could write a book of story like this lol

With the internet being everywhere like it is today, there are few things/informations that we can't find.
Star wars toys? Old coins? A painting with the artist's name signed? If he dont want to take any time for a quick research, some people did research all their live and know things that he dont want take even 5 minutes to look. So...
Honestly, if the thing interest me, i buy.
If the thing don't interest me: i would let the seller know about it. Or i would buy it and sell it higher but much less than its value on the collector's market to a collector happy with such a bargain. I'm happy because i have more money for my collections, the collector is happy because he find a nice thing for a great bargain, and the first seller thinks he is happy too because he was lazy or ignorant or stupid. (Sorry i’m a little cynical on a few things)


I have no shame about when i bought the big at-at by hasbro for 5$ in a garage sale

 

[Kueller]

I'd like to think I'd be honest... but in that situation I'd probably pay and run lol

For me, if the seller say HIS price, even if its ridiculous, nothing bad to accept and paid it. HE choose his price. (exception: if you are a collector/antique's shop, yes you have to say the real price, and explain that you cant give more than X% because you have to sell it after. People come to you to sell and to have information about it and the value too. Its not a garage sale, its a shop with a "expert" with knowledege and his reputation.)
But if the price is already ridiculous and you try to lower it even more, then it starts to be questionable

 

[Wtrailer]

About 10 years ago I happened upon a toy collectibles store having their grand opening. I found a mint Imperial Dignitary (no nose rub) and a mint EV 9D9. I asked how much for the figures and the owner said $18 each. I didn't argue.

 

[Strontium]

There's no moral dilemma here. Someone prices an item at a sum they're happy to receive, someone else pays it. That's how the world works.

 

[darth_sidious]

I think intention is the key, if you're buying it for your own collection or to gift to someone else - I don't see a dilemma. If you're just a reseller, and intentionally looking for clueless owners, to optimize profit, you're scum, lol. We've seen it on these forums before, someone will post a "haul" and say "I only paid $20 and these items are worth $500, these fools didn't know what they had", and then proceed to list them on ebay, lol. I think that speaks to someones intentions, because finding a good deal and being thankful is much different than preying on people to make money.

 

[comicalUser]

I think intention is the key, if you're buying it for your own collection or to gift to someone else - I don't see a dilemma. If you're just a reseller, and intentionally looking for clueless owners, to optimize profit, you're scum, lol. We've seen it on these forums before, someone will post a "haul" and say "I only paid $20 and these items are worth $500, these fools didn't know what they had", and then proceed to list them on ebay, lol. I think that speaks to someones intentions, because finding a good deal and being thankful is much different than preying on people to make money.

I cannot lie, I try to do it (buy for collection, or possible resale), but at the same time it angers me when I see it happen. So, it must be wrong somehow?

And it is odd how your exact scenarios are similar to a couple of recent experiences.

A collectible t-shirt I've been searching for recently sold on eBay for around $20. It was instantly snatched up and re-listed for $150 a few days later — and sold! They relisted it as rare, vintage, paper thin and are a store that mostly sells t-shirts and some other vintage clothing. Man! That really got me going for a minute or two.

A red bar R5-D4 recently sold for somewhere around $20 (not sure of amount as it was part of a multi-figure listing, just going by average of other figures). Several very good figures went for very little from this seller. Most were in great shape. The R5 had a wonderful sticker, was nice and white and with an unblemished chrome part. Wondering if it is a fellow, lucky collector or, well, scum. I am waiting for the graded listing or re-listing of it for $600. Cynical me cannot help but think it is Brian's Toys or some such — with workers whose job is to refresh a certain set of pages and get deals.

 

[Lex]

There's a good thread about this if you want to continue that discussion: https://forum.rebelscum.com/threads/hypothetical-question-on-ethics-of-buying.1007190/

 

[rnbuda]

I think intention is the key, if you're buying it for your own collection or to gift to someone else - I don't see a dilemma. If you're just a reseller, and intentionally looking for clueless owners, to optimize profit, you're scum, lol. We've seen it on these forums before, someone will post a "haul" and say "I only paid $20 and these items are worth $500, these fools didn't know what they had", and then proceed to list them on ebay, lol. I think that speaks to someones intentions, because finding a good deal and being thankful is much different than preying on people to make money.

I agree with this. I found a Graflex 3-Cell at a local antique shop for $20. They regularly go for $400-500 but I wouldn't sell it because...what's the changes of finding Skywalker's lightsaber at a local shop?!

There's a good thread about this if you want to continue that discussion: https://forum.rebelscum.com/threads/hypothetical-question-on-ethics-of-buying.1007190/

Dang that's an old thead!

 

[bigbarada]

Making up imaginary scenarios: Let's say an elderly woman who was just diagnosed with cancer is selling off her late-husband's toy collection to help pay for her chemotherapy, and she offers me a Blue Snaggletooth for $1. In that instance, I'm going to say, "No, this figure is worth waaaaay more than one dollar." Then pay her what I consider a fair price, based on the condition of the figure.

I've also won stuff on eBay for ridiculously low prices, simply because the seller set the starting bid extremely low, with no reserve, and nobody else bid on the item. A couple of times, I've messaged the seller and told them that if they wanted to back out of the transaction and try selling it again for a higher price later, then I wouldn't hold it against them.

I think we can all agree that sellers who overcharge for stuff are kind of shady. However, I think buyers who expect every seller to lose money on every transaction, just so that they can feel like they got a good deal, are equally scummy. If someone picks up a figure from their local store for another collector, but the buyer demands free shipping, refuses to pay extra for sales tax, gas, and just the time involved in making a special trip to the store; then that buyer is a dirtbag.

 

[Pop-Up Saber]

If both sides are happy with the deal, who's to say anyone is wronged? Ofcourse, I'm not talking about someone who's just buying the item(s) to then turn around and flip/sell then on. If it's a collector, no moral dilemma at all.

 

[Adam_L]

Sometimes you have to pay for an education.

Pay in terms of dollars , and /or pay in terms of spending more time at finding the right way out ??! There is a lesson to be learned here

People making money off other people !! Heck, that's been going on since the beginning of time. I don't see it letting up, anytime soon. Look at insurance companies .... banks , "higher" education ( Universities) , lawyers / doctors @ $200+ per /hr, the list goes on and on !!

 

[Jon_D]

Last year a friend and I were rummaging around a tiny local comic shop and found a binder of Magic: The Gathering cards packed with Revised dual lands and other highly-valuable cards like Force of Will and Mana Crypt. The shop owner had no idea what he had and my friend ended up buying the whole lot -- about $3000 worth of cards, going by eBay sold listings -- for about $40. It was unreal, like something out of a dream.

I could've bought some of it but I was pretty much frozen with shock and just stood there the whole time grinning like the idiot I am. I'm ecstatic for my friend but I still feel awful for the shop owner.

What would you guys have done?

 

[VideoViper]

While it’s easy to feel bad for the seller, he obviously got the cards for less (assuming he did a basic price check when pricing the item in store)

What a lot of people don’t always understand is that to sell a high priced item, it takes a long time to find that right buyer. Someone who can afford it, knows it’s worth & is willing to find it & buy it, usually on their schedule.

Items can be listed for years in some cases. It’s not instant gold unless you underpriced it.

 

[porkinsred6]

Items can be listed for years in some cases. It’s not instant gold unless you underpriced it.

Those magic cards will sell instantly on many online market sites. The rummaging around part to me implies it was a binder hidden away for many decades. I used to buy Revised dual lands in the mid 90s for about $10 each. It's possible the binder price hadn't been updated since then!

I have a different view for a store mis-pricing something than some old lady selling items in a yard sale. It's the store owner's literal job to know this kind of thing.

 

[Jon_D]

Those magic cards will sell instantly on many online market sites. The rummaging around part to me implies it was a binder hidden away for many decades. I used to buy Revised dual lands in the mid 90s for about $10 each. It's possible the binder price hadn't been updated since then!

I have a different view for a store mis-pricing something than some old lady selling items in a yard sale. It's the store owner's literal job to know this kind of thing.

That's exactly what it was, a binder that had been tucked away for many years. And my friend sold the cards easily. Mad profit.

I worked at a comic shop for about five years (I've ran hundreds of sanctioned MtG tournaments), so yeah, I agree 100% -- it's literally that guy's job to know this stuff. But man, I still feel bad for him, and I always will. If that guy had been selling something like Kenner Power of the Force figures for cheap because he didn't know their value, I think I would've said something. I honestly don't know for sure though.

I'm trying to get my friend to post here, to relate his take on it all. No success yet though. Oh and for the record, I never ripped anyone off when I worked at the LCS, never, not even once. I was always super fair, often to the owner's chagrin.

 

[Tulgah]

I don’t mind finding a deal, even a good deal. But sometimes it’s just too unfair. I’ll say something when it’s clear the seller is lost. But I guess it’s also true that an old lady with cancer probably falls into a different category than comic book neckbeard. Maybe not—a neighbor is a neighbor.

 

[keknivek]

I just got an amazing deal from a Facebook Marketplace buy. No moral delimma on my part except for one thing:

So, I got the Vintage Collection Boba Fett's starship (minus the figure and missiles, but with the bombs and everything else), the VC Antoc Merric X-Wing (minus figure), the N-1 Mando Starfighter (minus figures and accessories, but with the droid and Grogu sockets), 2 large wing TIE fighters (neither have panels that stay attached, but they're there), a bag of carded (but bent and low quality cards) figures, and a bag of loose figures without accessories (not the ones from the ships somehow).

I was straight up with the seller. The 3 ships in perfect condition are easily $100 each, probably more. The TIEs... unsure, but probably still at least $25-30 broken. The loose stuff is hard to price, but not knowing how many were in the bag I put a value of about $100 on those and the carded stuff similarly valued at $100 as it wasn't as many, but they were at least complete. SO since the ships weren't complete I gave an estimated resale value of it all around $500-600. *for full transparency the carded figures were Vintage Collection... Multiple blue shirt Obi Wan from the 3 pack (he wanted the Imperial guy in that pack), Krennic, and some of the 2020 realistic retro carded GI Joes like Destro, the Cobra trooper, Baroness, etc. maybe 30 figures.

I said I didn't want the loose stuff, but offered $350 for the ships and the carded stuff. I figured I'd keep Fetts ship, the N-1 and sell off the rest and make a little money maybe. He offered to throw in the rest of the loose stuff for $40 (turns out it was 144 loose figures, so I said great. PAID $390.

The dilemma comes in when going through it. on the bottom of the carded figures he had 2 of the JoeCon Sonic Fighters in quite nice condition somehow. I know those are like $100 or more each... I don't feel like I need to pay more money as I didn't swindle and in all truth... did not look through the whole bag assuming they were all similar.

So, I feel like I got a great deal and he got a good amount of money... If he had wanted to take the time to sell it all on e-bay, he could have made $700 or more... but in this scenario he made $390. I get a couple things I wanted and will likely make a couple hundred on the deal.

 

[Tulgah]

Here’s something I did recently. I bought 40 figures for $390. But they are all great figures, probably worth on average $50 each. I think they are probably worth a legit $2,000. But the seller actually said he knew what they are worth and just needed a quick sell. I guess he didn’t have time to parse them out one at a time but also knew they wouldn’t sell for something like $1,000 or more. He said “it’s a great deal here!” Okay, I’m up for it if you are!

 

[keknivek]

That's rare that you find someone these days that actually wants to make a deal. Typically I see people trying to get like $10 per figure for POTF2 figures or just super over valuing everything because it says "Star Wars" on it. My deal was the first really good deal I've had in awhile.

I tried to buy a collection from a guy last month and it was smaller than what I bought the other day. He wanted $1000. I tried to explain that the stuff he had was worth a fraction of that, but wished him luck. I'd estimate the stuff he had at TOP dollar would get him around $300.

 

[Adam_L]

Last year a friend and I were rummaging around a tiny local comic shop and found a binder of Magic: The Gathering cards packed with Revised dual lands and other highly-valuable cards like Force of Will and Mana Crypt. The shop owner had no idea what he had and my friend ended up buying the whole lot -- about $3000 worth of cards, going by eBay sold listings -- for about $40. It was unreal, like something out of a dream.

What would you guys have done?

I would have also bought for $40 , and told the owner straight up that I'll probably hold on to half/most of the cards to use in play decks , and sell off /trade what cards I cannot use. Then probably kick the guy down a small tip of some kind $2-5 , then do a pump-fist to the sky !! , then of course say a prayer for everyone involved

 

[Adam_L]

I wonder if Disney saw buying Lucasfilm for $4.5 billion ( I'm sure they negotiated to that point in 2012- '13) , and thought of it as a "bargain" at the time ? Fast forward about 5 years , I could see Lucasfilm being worth about double that number. So as a outsider looking in, different points of view at different chunks of time , I'd say definitely Disney got a bargain at the time.
I read a info factoid on Lucas last year , and know that about 1-billlion of that went to an educational charity that George supports (good for him, and for pre-post Lucasfilm to help support that ) , but also the remaining 3.5 billion has been invested right .....and as of last year it grew to something like $8-9 billion !! Good move George , but it's hard for me not think of the possibility of him holding on another 5 years , and initially the possibility of getting almost double the money (if Disney would have paid out double , then would to let's to Disneyland tickets be $350 ......and not $175 ??

 

[TauntaunScout]

I found Stormtrooper Luke (with helmet) and Carbonite Han in the dollar bin of a comic shop. I bought them. Resold them but everyone said they were fake. One idiot claimed he’d been collecting since Early Bird days and thought ST Luke was a counterfeit regular stormtrooper. Got $100 each for them.

It’s a comic shop they can do the research if they want.

 

[Dax]

I recently purchased some cardbacks from a seller and while he was a collector and knew relative values, there was a particular item that was quite rare tucked in there that he didn't realise.

So I contacted him, pointed out the issue and offered him much more than he had advertised the item for. He agreed and we both ended up happy

 

[Glennfett23]

I recently purchased some cardbacks from a seller and while he was a collector and knew relative values, there was a particular item that was quite rare tucked in there that he didn't realise.

So I contacted him, pointed out the issue and offered him much more than he had advertised the item for. He agreed and we both ended up happy

ohhh what was that cardback?

 

[Dax]

ohhh what was that cardback?

 

[TauntaunScout]

This requires explanation. Even I see that as a worthless bargain card of a peg warning character. So what makes it so valuable?

 

[Dax]

It's the remains of the large square yellow sticker above the bubble. This was an exclusive promotion for the POTF Coins here in Australia. It's very rare and highly sought after, even one in such a damaged state as this. Here's how it looks when it's not all torn up.

 

[darth_sidious]

A torn cardback with a torn sticker, that is also regional, is ultra niche, so I wouldn't expect most collectors to know the "value", especially when some consider opened packaging to be tantamount to garbage. I personally wouldn't look out for the seller's profit margin when they're selling empty packaging though (not that I would ever buy any).

If both parties find a transaction fair, it's difficult for anyone to question it, because some people simply want to offload items quickly. The only time I find it sleazy is when collectors are intentionally vultures and try to seek out cheap stuff to resell. Are folks really that desperate for money, or are some deals "too good to pass up", even if you don't need them for your collection? I remember seeing a near complete Falcon for $15 a few years ago and leaving it for someone else to discover, as I don't collect large vehicles. Was I a fool for not becoming a reseller? Haha